A current requirement for treatment of aphasia is that it should be oriented towards improving autonomy and participation of patients with aphasia in their daily lives. This client-centered aim needs further evaluation in therapeutic practice as well as disability-related research. To enable measuring participation, first of all, it is necessary to determine the concept of communicative participation. The conceptual discussion reveals that communicative participation is a multi-layered and complex construct that is influenced by numerous factors. A recent critical analysis of quantitative pragmatic-functional assessment instruments currently available in Germany shows that these are incapable of capturing the individual experience of participation in specific communicative contexts and with different conversational partners. The existing quantitative methods as well as their supplementation with qualitative methods need to be developed further.